Hawk

is a taut thriller that deals with the anatomy of a kidnapping. Paul Duprey, playing out his fantasy as Hawk, kidnaps Chelsea weeks before her marriage. His insistence that his love for her must be reciprocal is the visible motivation, but as the story progresses the reader is given deeper insight into the psychology of the man and the depth of the danger to both characters. Chelsea's carefully choreographed life: great job prospects; great friends; a loving fiancé, changes drastically when she is hustled into Paul's car in front of her Boston apartment building. The journey away from the city into a wilderness area close to the Canadian border is scenic in content and hazardous in actions. For the reader it seems like a passage along the edge of a high precipice where one dares not look down, or in the reading sense not plunge ahead, but travel the narrative in mincing steps. Chelsea and Paul are both survivors of difficult early lives. They are flawed in ways that heighten the suspense and portend the seemingly inevitable tragedy.